Equity, Gender, Seniors, Families and Vulnerable Populations Committee - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Today is Tuesday, 05/27/2025, and this is the committee for equity gender seniors, families, and vulnerable populations committee regular meeting. We are hybrid in person at city hall and virtual. And pursuant to oh, I should probably introduce myself. I am city councilor Lars Kristin Strogo.

I'm the chair of this committee, and it is 06:34PM. And pursuant to chapter two of the acts of 2025, this meeting of the city council committee will be conducted via remote participation. We will post an audio recording, audio video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of this of these proceedings as soon as possible at this meeting on the City Of Somerville website and local cable access government channels. So with that, can we please call the girl? This is roll call. Consulate. Consulate. Consulate. Present. We have two here.

We have four. Thank you. First our our first noun is escaping me. Our first agenda item is the approval of the minutes on on 04/16/2025 when we laid this on the table to be voted on for for the meeting. Mhmm. Thank you. With that, we're going to we're going to hold off for the next two agenda items on the conversation of guaranteed basic income.

Madam Chair, we did the director was able to join and is saying she's ready to go. So if you wanna proceed with the agenda items Okay. Then

do that. Great. So item number two on the agenda is a resolution two four zero four one eight that the administration discussed post pilot plan considerations on the guaranteed basic income pilot program. And, actually, yeah, we're gonna take it together. End resolution two four zero zero seven four that the administration provide an update on plans for the universal basic income guarantee, basic income implementation of roll out here to speak on this item. Please oh, from the mayor's office and the administration, please announce yourselves and your roles.

I will go ahead first. My name is Jenny C. I am, the ARPA program manager, at the city of Summerville and, one of the project leads, for the guaranteed basic income program. And I believe Erica is on the phone, and, hopefully, she'll be able to speak.

Erica,

I think if you're speaking, you are still muted, and, we can't hear you.

How about that? Can you hear me?

Oh, we hear you now. Thanks.

Sorry. It's computers only do things when when they feel like it is what I'm learning. I logged in from a different state today, and I think they didn't like that. I am Erica Ben Hernandez. I'm the ARPA director. Sorry for the tech issues.

No. Sorry. Pardon me for interrupting, but no sorrys. We're all doing the

best we

can, and we accept you and accept everything as we can. I'm sorry to to to see what I did there? Didn't mean to interrupt you. Did you see that? I am sorry for that. But I really am, I think women apologize a lot more for things that we have no control over, and I'm really trying to change the culture of that. So we we accept you for everything you are. Go for it.

Couldn't couldn't agree more and much appreciated. So I cannot share the slides myself, but I understand that someone in the room might be able to share the slides that you can follow along. Is that

We're cool.

Alright. Awesome. So thank you for having me. And, again, thank you, Jenny. And I know that we have a couple of partners here from the GBI program from from OHS and maybe from SLC tuning in.

So enormous thank you to them, and really glad to have a little more time to check-in on Guaranteed Basic and Compiler. So our agenda on slide two, we'll go through four key items. First, we'll do a a quick overview if any especially if anyone is joining again, but also just as a reminder. We'll talk a little bit about the broad strokes of participant characteristics. We'll also talk about some of the preliminary findings and what happens next, what's coming up in the coming months of the GBI pilot as well as some future thoughts.

So we can skip two ahead to slide four, where I will just say a word on the partners and the people involved. So the City of Summerville, we have a number of stakeholders making the DBI pilot happen. The city's divisions in ARPA, the Office of Housing Stability or OHS, the Somerville Family Learning Collaborative or SFLC in the schools, and Somerset have been working intensively over the last almost eleven months to manage this program as it stands as well as months and years in advance of that in the planning phase. And so we've been working on program design, and outreach, implementation, and participant support. We're also working with UMass Boston.

Representative from their Collins Center for Public Management and the Center for Social Policy are working with us on implementation and evaluation. GiftCard is the name of our fund's distribution vendor, so they manage the reloadable debit cards that each participant receives. And then Greater Boston Legal Services worked with us earlier in the process, especially during enrollment, to think about benefits counseling for our participants, making sure that everybody has, you know, their the best understanding of how the program may impact them, financially with their benefits and in a broader sense. So work with GBLS there. And we can go to the next slide.

Oh, yes. And if there's anything, please, I I it's harder a little harder for me to hear. So if anyone wants to jump in, please, please do. And it may take me a second here, but please just give a shout. On slide five, we have a little bit of background, excuse me, on the process.

Thank you. We have 200 participants enrolled, and so that'd be 200, you know, individuals and households. All of these participants are existing clients of either OHS or SFLC who are experiencing homelessness, housing insecurity, housing crisis. We're distributing $750 per participant monthly, and that occurs from July 2024 to June 2025. In total, that will be over the course of one year, one point eight million dollars total distributed throughout these 200 participants.

And we're working a little bit of a word on the evaluation process managed by UMass Boston. They're doing two surveys. So they completed a baseline survey in the 2024 or June 2024, and they'll conduct a post program kind of final survey in June and July 2025 as the program ends. They also conducted optional interview. Well, all all of the research is optional, but they conducted a smaller number of interviews at the midpoint in March and April 2025.

That's a bit of background on the GBI pilot itself. And we can go forward two slides again and we'll talk a little bit about participant characteristics. So a couple of quick you know, one quick item to note is that, as I mentioned, UMass Boston worked on the baseline survey, and so some of this information comes from there. We also have a lot of information from our enrollment and management partners at OHS and SLC to understand our participants. We wanna we wanted to give you a sense of the demographics without being too specific in in thinking about, you know, participant anonymity and discretion.

And also a caveat that we're still working on all of this data. The full report will come in 2026. So we've given a bit of a picture on the average GBI participant. The majority of our survey respondents of participants are women. Many are parents.

About half of respondents report having children. All of the participants are in some sort of housing crisis. Many, just under half of our respondents report being Hispanic or Latina. The majority of our participants are renters, and many are struggling to afford basic needs. So these are some of the the key or majority characteristics.

But, you know, of course, the caveat that there are many, many different household characteristics, and we're serving a really broad swath of of people in Somerville. But when you think about majority characteristics of our participants, these are some of the characteristics that you might see. And I will get I will give the quick caveat that my computer is after fifteen to twenty minutes deciding that I might be able to join on the computer. So I'll I'll do so if I'm able, and we'll work through it. But I can go on if you would be so kind to

So, director, you're going to log in?

I think Erica is going to try, to log in, but, I think we could we could move forward in the meantime. And if she has issues, I think speaking, I could, kinda take over for a little bit. Yeah. So, some preliminary findings, especially based on the, midterm interviews, which were conducted, in April, have given us a picture of, what the participant experience has been so far. We know that GBI funds, were spent on both immediate needs of the households, as well as setting them up for future success after the program has ended.

In the short term, most of the expenses, have gone towards rent, either current rent or back, rent that is owed, as well as food, and household goods. And participants have especially noted that, this, card that we have given them is more flexible in terms of how they could spend however they want compared to other sort of traditional public benefits like EBT, cards. They have spent it on children's needs, which include, a variety of, needs in childcare, supplies, enrichment, in the form of just being able to take kids on trips or, additional sort of out of school time, learning and and growth opportunities. Very few participants have more than a $150 left at the end of the month on their card. In terms of, how they have spent to build themselves up, for long term success, This includes paying down debt, including medical debt or, rent arrears, or paying down loans on cars, as well as for education.

And I think a handful of participants have also mentioned that they've been able to save some money, when it's possible. So if we could move on to the next slide, I think we have a breakdown of, we can see, through the, card vendors, platform that the majority of how participants have been spending is by taking out cash, on the cards. And we have asked participants about this, and they mentioned that this is very important for being able to spend, again, flexibly to meet many different kinds of needs. And the spending that was directly from the card, we can trace, at the level of the merchant. So, you know, we could see that a a big portion of the remainder, have been spent on food, either in the form of groceries or restaurants.

And household and school supplies, items, especially in big box stores, as well as clothing, make up, I think, the next biggest, expenditure category. And then the remaining sort of, eight or so percent further break down into smaller items of, spending on transportation, on telecom, which is basically phone bills, on health expenses, on housing, which, includes hotels and other kinds of temporary, living arrangements, and a variety of different kinds of miscellaneous expenditures. So this is the picture that we have right now in terms of how folks, are spending the GBI funds. I think we can move on to the next slide. Erica, do you wanna take over from here, or do you want me to keep going?

I'm open. As usual, you're you're doing a great job. Take the heat off if you'd like.

Feel free. Yeah. I think you're a little more prepared. Yeah.

You start and that we're catching ourselves. We're not we're not apologizing for things out of our control, which is something I love. Alright. Thanks. So this one excites me quite a bit to report on, which is that what we've really heard, especially from the midpoint interviews as as well as, of course, from connections with their support systems at OHS and SFLC and through surveys, that is the positive impacts of these funds have really radiated outwards from the recipient to others in their lives and networks.

And so we've heard quite a bit from participants that internally, they're feeling a really a decreased stress and anxiety about finances, feeling some real relief about when the program came to be and that it was a time of need. They're feeling stable because of these funds. And that starts to have that that obviously has strong internal impacts and also connect outwards as experiencing less stress, lead mainly to fewer hospital visits has been something that participants have reported and thus fewer medical bills. Interpersonally, this has also improved personal relationships, if you think about decreased stress and anxiety and the connections that you have with others that we've heard reports of improved connections. And societally and socially, participants have reported they have more time for engagement in their community.

And that takes a lot of different forms. We've heard about more time to connect with their religious communities, more time to connect with neighborhood communities, family and friends. And so we're seeing that the impact of the GBI funds, again, are really ranging from individual internal out to the larger community around our participants. And we can move to the next slide. And then the last section of preliminary findings that we'll talk about is that people are really reporting positive experiences of the program, which I think is huge.

As Jenny mentioned in the prior section that a lot of our spending is coming out in terms of taking out cash at the ATM. Our participants are really highlighting the their appreciation for flexible spending. And we talked about this last visit as well with the equity committee that there's a real need and appreciation for the dignity, the agency, and the autonomy that the ability to take out cash and spend flexibly offers and would just highlight the critical nature nature of cash purchases that and, you know, anecdotally, this is, you know, information that is collected from our partners, but that looks like being able to pay rent, being able to pay for daily basics. There are many places and kind of the cash economy that's really valuable. People have appreciated that.

Our team has been responsive to requests and needs for support, and I really wanna highlight OHS and SSLC here that this takes a huge amount of time and effort. Not too many participants have needed intensive user support, but some examples of the supports that OHS and SSLC are providing are helping people find ATMs and particularly ATMs that don't charge fees, which is being able to help people maximize their funds. Replacing lost cards, replacing instances of fraud. We've all shopped online and sometimes things happen in online purchases. And so being able to work with our card vendor to retrieve those funds or reimburse people.

OHS and SLC have put enormous amount of time into those endeavors. And we can go on to the next. I think it's two. Perfect. So do a little bit of, you know, what what what happens next.

So right now, OHS and SLC have been working intensively to transition participants off of the program. So they've been doing this for a number of months, giving strong heads up, you know, about the end dates, reminders. They are connecting participants to additional and different supportive resources. I wanna put out a a huge highlight here that OHS just completed a workshop on a long list of critical items, which was you know, it talked about financial resources, childcare resources, food access, credit counseling, banking, budgeting, just really incredible work happening at OHS and SLC to support participants as the program ends. After that, we're gonna be launching the post program survey later in June with and and we'll also be doing a sustainability study after the program ends.

So what did we learn about not just how GBI worked, how it impacted participants, but logistically, you know, and kind of what you know, in our organization, organizationally, how how did this process work? What can we apply to future assistance programs, to cash programs, direct benefits, then the UMass Boston team will be working working again on that later in 2025. And both of these elements will be part of the final report from UMass, which is due in March 2026. We can go to the almost last section. This one's a little hefty, I will say, but I I you know, we were the team really wanted to put out some examples of your considerations for direct assistance programs.

So these are a few of the decisions and questions that come to mind when we plan this program that would need to be revisited, rediscussed, you know, for a new funding source, for a new era of, you know, post ARPA, that there are sort of six categories we wanted to start thinking about, which was funding source, budgetary, legally, grant wise, what is available in terms of funding a program, what are the rules that are required from that funding source, And tied to that, you know, how many people can we truly support based on what funding we have? How do we choose an eligibility criteria, a chicken or egg? What comes first? Our funding, our eligibility. There are many components to that, and that enrollment is a very intensive process both in terms of communication and outreach, logistics management, but also personal identifying information and how we keep that incredibly secure.

As a program works, we think about administration and monitoring. Got some ideas here around, you know, how do we help people troubleshoot troubleshoot, how do we make clear program rules and apply them, How do we distribute the funds? And who spends the staff time to to do all of that work? We think about evaluation and course correction. How do we hear back from our participants and make changes based on the things that they need and request?

Who advises us while we do that? And then the wraparound services. So speaking of the the OHS workshop that was just you know, they just conducted, how are we supporting participants more holistically outside of just the pilot itself. This has been really exciting and really promising, and I think shown us a lot of information. And I we wanted to capture here a little bit of some decisions that we made along the way, which which come out to quite a long list that we think are important to memorialize for the future.

From there, you know, let's let's talk questions. Wanna appreciate your time and have at least the the ARPA staff here who can answer any back end questions myself, Jenny, our ARPA program manager working on tirelessly on GBI, and Megan Binetti, our in house evaluation manager who has also been working very intensively on on the GBI project. And we would also be glad to connect with OHS, SFLC, and and any others who can help answer the questions, but I'm glad to serve as that clearinghouse for you. So thank you. And, yes, any questions to kick us off or discussion points?

Thank you very much, director. Happy to, to have our, counselor at large, have the floor first. Councilman Vaugh, all yours.

Thank you, madam chair, and thank you, director, you know, for all the work you've put into this. It's, it's we're we're really excited about this program. It's been very something that we started talking a few years ago. So it's really nice to see, you know, useful information being, you know, put forward. So thank you.

Thank you for your time and the work and, you know, and all the effort. So I guess this is, like, raised a lot of questions for me. Let me log in. I have, like, a few screen here going. One of the the primary thing that I have on this, it's, like, just I will move I will walk backwards because so let's say, like, at the end, I'm trying to draw data from everything that has happened.

Like, we look at presumably the breakdown of how the money was spent. It's supposed to reassure us that the people did not run off with their money to the casino. You know? They use it Mhmm. For regular expenses. You know? But, I guess, other than proving that free income from, like, the taxpayer has been made you know, we've used this, you know, to actually have these people more secure and lessen their stress. One broad question I have is, like, what did we learn about their ability to move away from dependency going forward?

Yeah. That's a good question. Counselor, for you for you? I'm not sure if Robert's rules

Oh, oh, yeah. Right. But, yes, you're very well. Yeah. All conversations come through the chair, but, yes, I am I'm you're gonna have to time your response. Absolutely.

Thank you. Yeah. So that's a a really good question. And I think the first thing that comes to mind as I consider her response is that in the scope of what it could take to to change the way that benefits and an economic support work, I think one year is short. I think what we can show from this is that as a start, just from the planning of the program, there is a dense and complicated network of benefits.

And this is all things that you know, and so I'm kinda preaching to the choir here. But to say that I think, you know, as we, especially as we developed and sought waivers for for dozens of benefits programs to say, you know, we hope that you won't consider these these GBI funds to count against people's benefits such that they can you know, that it wouldn't change their income and and reduce their benefits long term. We saw that there is a dense and complicated network of of supports out there with many regulations and and specificity in in many ways, both of who they serve and also what they can provide. And so I think that one thing that I take away from the GBI pilot is that there's not there's an effectiveness to flexibility, and there's also an appreciation for flexibility. And I think what we've seen with we, you know, we try not to overly analyze the kind of uses of the of the cards, and we're looking at an aggregate level.

For kind of research purposes. We're not looking at really an individual level. But seeing again that the vast majority are spent on basic needs and reported as such, I think shows us that, as you said, not only are people, you know, using the money on unreasonable and needed things, but also that it supplements other benefits they receive. And I know, you know, some of this information, a little bit is anecdotal that we hear about how cash was spent, but I guess I I have a tendency. I'm starting to ramble a little bit.

But I I guess I'd say, and I I'll kick it to Jenny, that I think we learned about the import flexibility Absolutely. And the ability to, like, in the broad in the long term future, could this inform the way and change the way that we do benefits as a whole? I think definitely. But I think one year is short to start that, but I think we get an inkling from it. And I again, I know Jenny has has input here.

Actually and and I'm gonna interject on this Please. Because I I want to pivot and and just validate the fact that when we talk about dependency or or how or being concerned about how people spend money, the reality is that poverty is terrible. And a lot of people in poverty are told that are questioned for everything they spend or how they spend or judged for how they spend. And if you're poor, you should spend it on this, but not that. And and I also want to validate the fact that a lot of people in, poverty or generational poverty didn't have the benefit of generational wealth.

So they if they're going to school, there's a chance that if they wanna get higher education because when you're poor, you're told, if you go to college, just get all the student loans. Just take on the loans. Once you get to the other side, you'll be so you'll be so, self sufficient that you won't need to pay back those loans. But nobody tells you that student loans, if you're if you don't have a wealthy parent or grandparent that is or or anybody that set forward a college plan for you where your college education is paid for in advance by the luxury of being born into the right plan, then you have to come up with those student loans.

Gotcha.

And we have classmates that and I I had college classmates that when they graduated their parents from their bachelor's degree, their parents gave them a car. So that's so take off that, worry of having to have a a college, I'm sorry, a, a car payment.

Marantia

expense. I'm speaking. So those are those are generational issues, and that's that's something the cycle of poverty that continues on. So we need to really validate that, poverty is complicated, and many people don't understand the process of how terrible poverty is and how overwhelming it is. And I am very concerned about, like, what happens to these participant participants on the other side of this, and I have questions about that.

And and you know? But it is it is very complicated, and I would like to assume that, no, there weren't any participants that spent it at the casino or spent it in in frivolous ways. And we know statistically through, other research on GBI that participants are more likely to spend it on childcare or a new suit for a job interview or paying for rent. So I'm happy to continue on the conversation. And, Council Mabad, did you want to you say

Madam Chair, I just wanna make the clarification. The director and everybody here heard what I said. Again, I'm leaving at at 08:00 on the dot, so I just wanted to stick to the point. I did not say the spin on Casino. It was just I was making a general comment, and the director will all smile, I just meant to say the one point I wanted to make was like, it was unclear about the conclusion like what we expected to draw from the data, and she got it, it was just for the future, this is just, is it like that's why she says preliminary, you know, I mentioned that this is like when I'm giving comments, you gave me the floor, I said, well, it's unclear what conclusion we are expected to draw from this data.

And so that's why I asked about, how we can help to move people away from dependency moving forward. And was, I just wanted to stick to that. So through you, Madan Chair, just another quick surprising fact that I saw in the data was about the fact that fifty percent are families with children. So, and then another surprising fact was the fact that on the chart, only 1.1% of the money goes to housing. So the 50% with family, I mean like who are like the rest of the recipients?

Are the seniors, retired people with no pension, disabled individuals, disabled plus caretaker, working individual in low paying job, formerly homeless. You know, it's it's I'm just curious.

Okay. And, director Mihabapur, and, on your point, councilor Bah, I also got what you said. I understood what you said, and I'm clarifying. Poverty is very complicated and is a lot more than just we have to look a lot deeper into this. It's extremely complicated. You're welcome. Director?

Thank you. Through you, I know Jenny, would love to jump in on this and put together a lot of this information. So I'll I'll allow her to to take a first crack at that that answer if she would.

Yeah. I think I'll, speak a little bit more about the previous question and also answer this question sort of in a combined effort. I think I wanna say that, like, in terms of spending, what we have right now, the information we have right now is what's available to us through basically the vendor platform. And because folks take out, you know, a significant or large, amount of their, funds in cash, we can't, you know, track at this time how they have been spending the cash except to ask them. And so that is what the final survey is going to be aimed at.

The final survey will, start being administered, in a couple of weeks, actually, so we can have a much more accurate picture of how folks have been spending, especially their cash. What we have heard from the midpoint interview so far is that, you know, a significant, if not majority amount of that cash, has been going towards rent because it is difficult to pay rent on a card. Right? And a big chunk of it also has been going towards childcare because childcare is also very often difficult to pay with, with directly on a card. And so the ability to use cash to fulfill these basic needs, I think we will we expect to see that surface very, very clearly, in the final survey.

And in terms of, I guess, the composition of, the participants, yes, we see a large, sort of like, about half of the participants are families with children. But, I mean, the majority of those are parents. That also does still include, other kinds of caregivers, including, I think, counselor, as you mentioned, seniors, and even some younger people that are taking care of younger siblings. We I think in our baseline, assessment, we could see that about ten percent, are folks over the age of 65. And, yes, indeed, a number of, older adults, living alone, having, meager sources of income either through public benefits, or not being able to work.

It's a it's a combination of, a variety of different kinds of needs, and household profiles. So that's sort of why we kind of condensed it, into this, like, typical, like, participant format. But for sure, the the, 200 households that we are supporting are quite varied.

Thank you.

Okay. With that, I I had a question about well, councilor Morbaugh, you had other questions. You said you you you absolutely cannot stay past 8PM tonight?

Yes. I cannot stay past 8PM.

Okay.

Can I can I ask just two more questions?

Because I have questions too, and we also have other, agenda items. So we have two choices here, and we also have people to speak on this other agenda item. And if you're gone by eight and we don't have, a council site, then we either have to end the meeting, and we have people here to speak on other items. And I still have questions as well, so we have several choices. We can either, talk about this for another five minutes.

And, if we have the possibility to continue on the conversation in another meeting, I'm happy to do that. But I also have questions that I I'd like to ask as well. And so what what would you like? Oh, I can also reach out to and see if she had plans to attend as well so we can carry on the meeting and keep on the dialogue, which I would prefer as well because this is a very important conversation that is impacting our city.

Madam Chair, it's your preference. I'll defer to whatever you think.

Okay. If you, if you wish, if think that the question will be quick, that's that's fine. And then, in the meantime, I can try to see if counselor Sait will be joining us later.

Okay. Thank you.

Know that the slice of

the city ends at seven. So, hopefully, so, yes, you have the floor, counselor.

Thank you, Maranje. And thank you, director. And is it two is it two directors? I wanna make sure that

I am a manager. I answer to Erica.

Thank you, director and man manager C. I appreciate that. You know? No, but again, as you can tell, we are all on the same page, this is just probing so we can actually get enough juice from this study as much as possible. I guess, you remember I talked about another surprising fact that I saw was this 1.1% of money goes to housing. You know, I guess since, you know, high percent of income for housing is a primary criteria for eligibility, like why do we, you know, on the chart, do we only have like, 1.1% of the money that goes to housing?

I can answer to that.

You hear me?

Go ahead.

Yeah. Yeah. Sorry.

Go ahead.

Yeah. Thanks. I I can answer to that. Because, again, this chart right now shows, what is trackable, as direct spending on the card. And the you know, I can see essentially the merchant codes, for every transaction that

is

made. And the majority of, the expenditure in this sort of, like, small slice of housing expenditure has been going towards, like, hotels and other kinds of temporary housing. Whereas for folks to pay rent, it's not really possible for them to spend directly on the card, to pay rent. And this is why, being able to take out cash in order to pay rent or owed rent or any kind of housing arrangement, is so important for folks. I wanna also add again to your previous question about, whether or not folks have been spending on casinos or other kinds of, merchants that the city does not endorse.

We have actually been able to block, spending at, sort of key, merchants such as, gambling, enterprises, alcohol stores.

If I may, I'm gonna shut this question and answer down because I think it's really hurtful to to the community. Okay? So let's just let's just

I know. I don't know why she can't mention it, Cassie.

You Okay. That. Okay. So I'm gonna take the floor now, and I'm gonna ask some questions. Thank you very much.

Okay. So with with the conversation of poverty and generational poverty, so for instance, if we wanna talk about how the the stacks the I'm sorry. The the climate is very, stacked against you when you just can't get ahead, when you grow up poor and hopefully can can can can do it, but maybe you can't, get out of poverty. So for instance, we've got, a proposal for our water and sewer increase to go 12717% increase of water and sewer this year on on, anybody that has a water bill. And we know with affordable housing, some of our inclusionary residents have to pay their own water bills.

So that will immediately, directly impact our most vulnerable of residents in our city. So I wanna make that point. That's more of a point than an actual question because, director and, pardon me, Jenny Singh? Yes. Yes.

I wanna make sure I I pronounced your name correctly. So I know that that's not that your department, but that's how those tiny death by paper cuts situations impact. And and, I was at CVS today and saw a bottle of Mylanta for $8 and and a container of of cough drops for $7. So those so the very fact that if if you take that into account, some people cannot afford cough drops at this point. That's the reality we're living in.

So for someone who lives in that reality, that's it. That's a major impact. So my question is, have you asked the recipients, what they believe would help them get out of poverty or get, how that $7.50 now that that's going to be eventually weaned out of, in the pilot. And is there any thought or consideration? This is an open ended question.

This is not like a this is not an inquisition, and this is not be like, why isn't this being considered? It's none of that. But it's more like, I guess, a thought, open open ended conversation of, if half of these households have children in them, are children being taught, alongside the participants' programs of of of, I hate this term financial literacy because it but but financial planning. And I don't know. Even, like, apps like Bloom, which teaches kids how to invest in small chunks, but it's an actual app that teaches kids this.

Has there been any thought on on on how on how the the the full circle family is being impacted by this elimination of the $7.50 per month and how to prevent that going forward. And I assume since we don't have the cash on this pilot, it's ending, it's ARPA funds. Has there been dialogue with community partners, some of our credit unions or, community partners or or, I don't know, chamber of commerce of how they can help step up if we don't have the cash at a municipal level to keep this going.

Thank you.

Five questions at once, but not able just excited about this.

Understood. And it I think this this almost it feels almost brainstorm of, like, what happens next? And I think that is a fair question and one that's on the minds of all of our minds. And I I hear what you're saying. I think on a kind of immediate level, we're looking at, you know, immediate participant support, but that there is I I hear you also naming the long term well, two things.

That there's sort of a long term, how do we change the situation and kind of the structural issues resulting in the need for deep support? And then also how do we find future funding for opportunities to offer flexible support as needed in in especially emergent situations. And I can I can start with the second first, which is that, you know, we've been connecting with other communities who are working on GBI pilots? We are connecting with, you know, sort of a a burgeoning coalition of people who and communities and operators, GBI operators of sorts, who want to consider those very same questions that many of these pilots that we've seen across the state and especially, you know, additionally across the country have been on a local level. There are a few that are on a more like a county or a state level, And most of them have been temporary.

What are the opportunities that we have to band together as people that have run and operated a GBI pilot to say, how do we turn this into something much bigger? How do we turn this into something sustainable? So we're starting those conversations with other communities in our in our area to explore what could be out there and how we can keep the train rolling. When it comes to the I would say the some of some of the points that you've made about, like, how are we preparing people for the future? How are we investing in the ways that we can now to to support these participants.

And I would say, you know, I think OHS and SFLC have done an enormous amount of work on an individual basis, but I think there's something here to your point about how do we connect in with the school system and education and curriculum. How do we connect in with kind of a more comprehensive community approach. And I will absolutely say that, you know, I am I am not there yet, and I think we still have work to go on on an effort of that sort. And we've but I think these are really important topics and good conversations to be having with our broader partners, not just on GBI, but across the community about kind of our broader anti poverty strategies almost.

Thank you, Director. And I'm hoping we can continue on that conversation. And while SFLTE and OHS are instrumental in our city,

they're also

slammed. So if we completely just hand it off to them and be like, alright. Off you go. Do your best. We both realistically know that the participants in this could slip through the cracks because there's so much need, and it's so desperately need right now that and I'm not in any way speaking for either entity because they're all they they are fabulous.

And and but they are they are slammed. They are overwhelmed, and it's gonna get worse. Yeah. So if we aren't thinking of a plan, my my biggest concern with this is are we negatively impacting these families if we aren't considering a deeper plan of this is open ended question, a deeper plan of immediate anti poverty initiatives that affect these these these participants. Because when when we spoke about the anxiety of how that they that the participants felt pre this pilot.

I'm also very concerned that they're going to be feeling a lot of anxiety now as they wonder what they do after this. So that that's I mean, we you don't have to address that, but I that's more of a statement because it's that's terrible. So it are are we able to keep this conversation in committee? Will you be available or, liaison?

Ma'am, sorry. We can absolutely keep the items in committee, although I will note the next big.

Everyone's still employed.

Yeah. I believe the ARPA director will be on for into the next year. Yes. As we are wrapping up this program, they're continuing to work on the evaluation, and that the next milestone will be March when we get the report back, which will be an excellent time to be back before the committee to be able to share out the results of that report, which I know by that point, it'll be a new council. So an item new item won't be submitted anyway. So up to you on if you would like to keep this in committee or submit a new item if there's a further and a better opportunity for more conversation.

Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Councilor, I see your hand up.

Oh, yes. Thank you, madam chair. I was almost gonna say part of what the the director liaison heard I just said because this is probably gonna be a new council is probably gonna be in charge of this stuff, but I just wanted to make sure that we spend as much time and give more information on this before, you know, because we never know when we're going to have this conversation again, it will be a bunch of other people. So even if it means just having this conversation within this timeframe, this is better than trying to rush through an agenda with such a unique thing that we are doing at this point in time that, you know, that is our own legacy for this committee. If we don't have this conversation now and and reach it, and then it it will be up to some other counselors that are gonna decide they wanna even have this for consideration moving forward.

So through you, just I have one last, you know, question that I wanted to ask. If it's okay with you, I can ask. If it's not okay, I can just let it go.

I I I very much want to hear and and and have you have the question. I I'm just concerned that we're since you have to leave at eight, that I wanna make sure we have a hearty, conversation on the next agenda item. So can you make it, like, minutes? I I hate to put a time stamp on it, but I wanna make sure.

Yeah. No. No. Yeah. It'll be less than that, I think.

Okay. Go for it. Thanks.

Thank you. No. So I guess one just last thing that I was noticing about, like, this information. I was wondering, you know, since there was really no information about, whether any family left the program for positive reasons, like new job with more income or move to new housing or got enrolled in a voucher or subsidy program like you know, it would be nice to get that information, maybe it is but it's missing in this presentation, know, or even just left for negative, you know, like reason, maybe they got evicted, maybe they left some of it or families separated, know, it's always good to capture some of those, you know, in this in this study. Is that something that you guys, you know, consider?

Yeah. Sure.

Through the chair. Yeah. We'll definitely be doing that. I would say we have a number of those stories anecdotally from our partners as well as from in the research that will be reported upon through the the midpoint interviews, and we expect that we'll get more again during the final survey. But I would just say that one of the of the ways we intentionally structured this program was that no one has to leave due to any of the circumstances, the examples that you mentioned.

So given that the the criteria is not income based, it's primarily on, you know, being, you know, a a resident in Somerville, being a Somerville family, and experiencing housing crisis that we we hoped that people would be experiencing those positive benefits that you mentioned and that they would still be able to continue receiving stabilizing funds to help continue contributing to that. So we have heard positive stories. We've heard you know, tough stories as well. But in in either circumstance, participants are not leaving the program due to those changes. They're able to continue, finishing out that year, receiving all the funds that they were due at the beginning, you know, in in in both good times and bad.

So I think that's one of the important elements of the program. And to to one of your to kind of earlier points, I think really different from many of the benefits programs that we see out there, and I think contributes to some of that notion of, you know, how can we really radically change the landscape of of benefits and supports for community members with this information. So I I I I'd throw that in there again to the kind of the the high hopes for the the long term future.

Yeah. Thank you for keeping it on that four minute. I'm not gonna ask any more questions. Thank you, madam. Sure.

Thank thank you, director, and thank you, JDC. Thank you so much for being here. I would like to keep it in committee and hopefully happy to talk more about it. I'm really grateful for your care and just work on this. And and I think it has a lot of potential. I really appreciate it. So with that, happy to keep these two items in committee, and we're gonna move on.

Oh, there's a these are

Thank you. Thank you. These are four items. Here we go. What? They're all related. Okay. No. Well, you know what? We're going to just put we'll put the next agenda item on hold because since we only have half an hour to discuss, I'm just going to keep this so order 250117, which is that the director of Parks and Recreation Discussions Committee of Unequity, Gender, Seniors, Families, and Vulnerable Populations, introduction of an ongoing middle school girl's intramural hockey program. Director, I'm happy to put this on hold unless you had something to speak on, but totally don't have to. I'm happy to just

We we do have a substantive update from the last meeting, but happy to have that No. And I I mean, we can have that later in the agenda if there are other items you wanna take first for time, and we can come back at

a later date with that information. Counselor Mabaugh, do you honestly think you can I mean, I'd love it it sounds like a possible happy surprise? Can you wait, like, fifty minutes? I don't think I can wait. Oh, I'm sorry. Half an hour. Oh my gosh. Could do you mind? We should just take this off. If you don't this could be exciting.

This is yeah. This is your this is your own time. So

Okay. Okay. I'm happy to entertain it. But, yes, I'm looking at this other three agenda items. Is it okay? Go for it.

Alright. Do need to read it into the record? I'm sorry. Oh. You need to

read the item? Yeah. I I well, I just I did read it. Oh, okay. We're we're still on it. So, yeah, we're quick. But here to speak on the item

through the chair. First and foremost, I'd like to say I I'd like to express my appreciation. Please.

I know who you are, but please, for the record, I'm

in and out. Susan Yerkis, Parks and Recreation director. I like to express my appreciation for the commitment and passion that the counselor Strazo and Annette and other parents that have demonstrated in advocating for expanded opportunities for girls in hockey. We recognize the importance and of increased access to sports for all youth, including girls who wish to participate in hockey. In August 2024, we we responded to the community interest by organizing girls hockey clinic.

14 girls ages nine to 14 participated, allowing us to gauge initial interest. We will continue to grow the program through partnership with youth Somerville Youth Hockey Association and FMC to provide this service. Our program developer, George Scarpelli, has created a strategic plan to grow the program with sustainability in mind. This is a step by step outline to ensure long term success. We shared the enthusiasm of those that are advocating for girls hockey program, and we believe that by using this strategy, we will, reach sufficient demand, for an intramural league.

Year one, we start with the summer girls ice hockey, for girls clinic, and then roll that into floor hockey program slash, fall clinic, similar to what we did in in the summer, and with the discussions of expanding this program with the athletic department and Malden, Summerville, Wakefield, other municipalities. Year two, a summer clinic, a fall clinic, and then middle school collaboration to have open skate night to expand on the development of, the skills for the young girls. And then year three, summer clinic, fall clinic, and then open skate transition to try to get two to three teams to get an intramural fall put together. We appreciate the work that Annette and her group and yourself that have been able to reduce the barriers, such as equipment and ice time limitations. We encourage, continued collaboration and increased awareness for the participation in our existing clinics as well as the demand for the girls hockey rises, or as the demand rises that we, we'll be ready to, meet the necessary steps towards expanding the offerings.

So, and we wanna make sure that it's equitable and sustainable for long term growth. And we thank you for the dedication that you and all that have been involved. Our goal is to support and and entertain any questions. We've talked with we we've talked with Annette in the last couple weeks so that we are trying to make sure that we are in step with the long term vision. Correct. Thank you.

Thank you. If if I may, thank you. I'll just keep keep it in committee if that's okay, and we'll just yes. Thank you very much. Thank you. I'm so grateful for your for your thank you for your your care and just your service. Of course. Okay. Well, that's I'm gonna keep so we'll we'll keep this in committee. The next one, I I'll spoiler alert. I'm gonna put this on on just Mhmm. Keep it in committee. We're not gonna address it right now, and then we'll the next two, we'll take up so we can get right into the the beat of this. What what do the boxing?

Box? Yes. Come.

Come join us. It's JC. It's nice see you.

She has been so incredibly patient.

Okay. So order 250072 that the director of Parks and Recreation update this council on the progress of conducting a representative multilingual survey of the community to determine recreational program needs. So I'm gonna put this one keep this one in committee, and we're not gonna discuss it because we're short on time. And, yeah, it's, so the next item, is officers communication 250776. You can take those two together.

Commissioner of Public Works and Director of Parks and Recreation conveying program and cost information related to item two five zero four five six. Appropriation of a $160,100 $160,100,000 dollars from free cash to the Department of Public Works repairs to buildings, count for fabrication and installation of quartz at Founders' Rink, and the mayor's request, two five zero four five six, requesting the appropriation of a 160 $100,160,000 from the unreserved fund dollars from the unreserved funds balance free cash to the Department of Public Works Repairs to Buildings Account for Fabrication and Insulation of Courts at Founders' Rink. So pardon my loving that those long, agenda items. These were written for finance, and they meandered their their way on down to equity. Welcome agenda items.

So I'm here to speak on this item. We have director Hutter. I'm sorry. Liaison I don't know the director of them. Liaison Hutter from the mayor's office, and we also have director here to speak on drafting of this as well.

Alright. Do you want me to do it? Okay. Alright. So, the vision for Founders' Rink, I I said we'll start with the vision. Okay. So imagine a place in the heart of Somerville where all generations can come together to move, play, learn, and connect. A place that reflects our city's vibrant diversity and commitment to health, inclusion, and equity. This place is not far away. In fact, it already exists.

It's in at ZEP Founders Rink. And now with your support, we have the opportunity to transform it into a seasonal rec we we have a chance to change it into a dynamic multiuse recreation center serving residents from March through December. Founders Rink since sits at the intersection of accessibility and opportunity. Centrally located and directly connected to public transit, it is uniquely positioned to become a year round hub of activity for Somerville residents for all ages and abilities. However, its current its current polished concrete floor limits its potential for athletic movement based programs that are unsafe and unfeasible, for that slip surface.

By simply adding flooring, we unlock a world of possibilities and respond directly to a growing and urgent community need. Somerville residents have spoken clearly through the Parks and Recreation Program survey as well as the Council on Aging's Community Needs Assessment. We need more indoor recreation space, and we need it now. With the closure of the Edgeley School building in 2023, over 200 teens lost their daily drop in center. Founders Rink, just a short walk from Summerville High School, is an ideal replacement offering safe, supervised, and enriching after school programs.

Our adults are seeking spaces for fitness, socialization, wellness activities like chair yoga, walking sessions, and Zumba, all programs that promote physical health and combat isolation. Families need more structured and unstructured play options throughout the year. Adults and younger residents alike crave access to courts for pickleball, open gym time, and group fitness of all activities identified as top priorities from the community surveys. Founders can meet those needs efficiently, sustainably, and equitably. Transforming Founders' Ring into a recreation community center directly supports the city's strategic goals outlined in summer vision 2040, especially in following areas of focus, youth and education, health and well-being, equity and inclusion, climate and infrastructure, civic engagement and community building.

This initiative is not a placeholder. It's a bridge for to the future. While large scale community center projects may take years to realize, repurposing founders allows Summerville to respond today to real and pressing needs. The rink's transformation will feature year round programs from March to December for all age groups, multi use space for fitness classes, drop in sports, youth programs, and adaptive activities. Affordable access with a focus on removing financial, geographic, and cultural barriers.

The revitalization of Founders Rink is more than a facility upgrade. It's a statement of values. It's about prioritizing health, equity, youth and youth development, and community cohesion. With relatively modest investments, we can activate and under and underutilized public asset to serve thousands of residents across generations immediately and for years to come. Let's not wait. Let's invest.

Okay. Thank you, counselor. Do you have any questions? And, unfortunately well

Thank you, madam chair, you know, for for that recognition even though my hand wasn't up, but I appreciate you being proactive. Our first finance item, which is really nice, you know. I guess, who doesn't like a bridge to the future? Look at what director Joakim was just kind of like reading this thing. I felt like, oh my gosh, you know, Multi use space for adapting. Come on. Move to approve, madam chair.

Okay. Well, I have some questions. Have have there been some of the the issues that I've heard is about heating and the fact that there isn't heat yet. And what do we do with a hockey rink? What what what we have currently with those that use the hockey rink?

And

and and there was also a conversation about the specific floors that were to be used. And has there been any change in that conversation or any updates on that?

So, I guess I will refer back to the initial presentation that, Commissioner Latham had presented. We didn't use the hockey rink last, winter, and we still had roughly a hundred and sixty hours additional rank hours for the public, because the hours shifted over from founders to veterans. FMC has, committed to allowing for more, rent time, for, Somerville youth residents. We we have we have shifted in that direct I mean, so we we didn't have the access or the we didn't have rank access at Founders last winter, but yet there was additional rank hours at veterans. So if there was lost hours, we saw an increase of hours at veterans for youth youth hockey.

Okay. I do have a a member of the the hockey community here to speak, and and I I definitely want your insight. And it the reason I I I do want members of the public and of our hockey community, this is not in any way of like, oh, yeah. It's none of that. It's that I'm not well versed at this. And I don't wanna be I don't wanna speak on something I am not deep in, but I do have a member of the community from our hockey community, graduate of a dog, which you'd be interested in.

I would love to.

Speak? Okay. Yes. I'm gonna sponsor you to speak. Just just don't submit it. You're welcome to come on forward. And I'd

love to offer just a a few ideas.

For for the for the record, just quickly state your name. Sure. Yes.

My name is Greg Robodeau. I'm on the board of directors for the summer of the youth hockey. I'm the director of rules. So my understanding with a lot of the programming that was made available, it was made available at the expense of moving other hockey out of the arena. So learn to skate has been removed from the Boston.

It was I think it was Boston learn to or, Boston Skating Academy, was there. There were several club teams in several other communities. Some communities which have lost their rink were also using rink space that is no longer available. In addition to that, I'm very interested in personally interested in the prospect of youth girls' hockey. I have a very talented young hockey player sitting with me tonight, and the prospect of her being able to continue to play through middle school into high school is very encouraging to me.

And, you know, I see problems with being able to implement that without bringing space to do so, you know, between the high school and our usage of the rank, we're maxed out, and we get bumped out during high school play. And, you know, myself and other parents and other board members, you know, we love the idea of inclusivity, of being able to have spaces in the Somerville area for all sports. My children play what seems like hundreds of different sports, and we're running in all directions all the time. And so we don't want this to be us against the community kind of thing, But we love our sport, and we know that the children that we support and we put countless numbers of hours into supporting had significantly benefited from the use of that space. It's been very discouraging to see it unused for the past couple of years.

And the you know, we have a lot of the same questions in that it is exceptionally cold in there in the wintertime. Even for as most rinks go, that's a really cold rink. And it's excruciatingly hot in there in the summertime. As evidenced, I have a neighbor that was on the roller derby team that was practicing in there and said it was brutal. And so that there are other issues other than just flooring to bring this to fruition and make it a safe, usable space for everyone.

But with that said, if we can find a way to make it a multiuse space, I know that summer will use hockey is more than willing to do our part to help if if a flooring can be converted to allow this to be used for twelve months a year instead of eight months a year, we would be more than willing to volunteer our time to help make that happen, you know, because it gives better opportunities for our youth, for the kids that want to continue to play hockey in this community. And it's not just hockey players. It's kids that are learning to skate. It's curling. It's there are other activities that go on on the ice other than just ice hockey.

So I don't wanna pigeonhole this into just ice hockey. But I really appreciate the opportunity to give our opinion. Did you have something you wanted to say, Ms. Roxy?

So you were just talking about how

You have to go quickly. Yeah.

It it

was, like, it it got cold and hot and how the flooring was what did you say about the flooring? That it was

Well, they we would have to they wanna put in flooring so that more people can use the ring during warmer months. And I said that maybe the hockey players and the hockey board would be willing to help if we had removable flooring that could go in and come out so that we could use it in the wintertime as well, to use it twelve months out of the year as opposed to eight months out of the year.

I also think that it would be a good idea to have fundraisers to get enough money to do to do the flooring things and put in the AC so that the thing that he

said about in charge of that.

And the hot and cold

I bet you could raise a lot of money for that, Roxy.

Because I remember we did a Summerville bake sale, and that was to raise money for the

rink. Yeah.

That's a good idea, I think, that we could do to use that money to fix that rink.

Yeah. I think it will cost a little more than a big sale to fix the AC.

No. We can have one.

We we probably have to have a lot of money. Yes. But I

Talking about the yard sale.

Yeah. Yeah. That too.

Chair recognizes that yard sale fundraising and bake sales are on a possibilities. But so and I do wanna say that counselor Syed did say that she will be able to to log in hopefully soon. She just got home. I'm grateful for that. So but, also, I am very grateful for the dialogue, the conversation, and very grateful for for for you for coming forward and just explaining some you know this on the ground and on the drink or just how the the the interest the tiny little details that I would know. And grateful that you came back to it.

And I I think that it's great to be able to con to have an open dialogue as we are now and that I I know that there are people in my community, the hockey community, that feel like they're getting something taken away from them. Right? It feels like this is being pulled away. And people get very sensitive when they feel like they're getting something taken away from them. And that can create a lot of hard a lot of intense feelings, and people get upset about these things.

And I think, ultimately, what everybody wants here is for the community to be served as well as possible. Obviously, we have a vested interest in the hockey part of the community, but we're not blind to the needs of the rest of the community. And if there's a way that everybody can win in that situation, that would be what we would want. And to, you know, allow that space to give as much access as possible to as many either underserved communities or communities that don't get to use controlled spaces like that as much as we do. So, you know, well, we would we support, you know, all the communities here and and their right to be able to to play and have fun and be athletic and be healthy because that's important for all of us.

Right, Roxy?

Mister Rubidou, I don't think I could have said it better. Thank you. So a director, would it be possible going forward to I'm not anyway, I'm tell you how to do your job in any way. Do it. But would it be possible to bring in the the some of the you talked to you? You you mentioned that that you you would be consulting them, but would they be helpful insight as we go forward with this? Because I am I am I am happy to approve this.

Yeah. I guess I'm willing on him to help me out. I hear here's the thing. I I I I heard eight months, but it's really a nine month operation from our standpoint. Oh, I'm sorry. No. No. No. No. That's okay.

I just I just know from commissioner Latham's presentation, there's a lot involved, and I'm not on that maintenance side of it. So I'm really more just the like, I'm the program side of it, and she's the maintenance technical Got it. Operations side of it. So from our standpoint, we're happy to work with any organization to make anything happen that allows as much use as possible. We just know that we serve cradle to grave, the community from from the time that they're born to the time that they leave us that we have we have recreation for all ages and all aspects, whether it's arts and crafts, know, Zumba, cheer yoga, or badminton or whatever it is.

So, anyway, we have all that encompassing.

So

Totally get it. Yes. I'd love

to add, madam chair. A few things I wanted to note just for clarification. The floors that are being proposed, currently, they are removable. So one thing I wanted to highlight and what director Jurgis was discussing when we're thinking about it in the girls hockey is a multiple year plan to how we encourage the the development of the interest and the skills that, you know, the young girls can form a team. Part of that is reevaluating consistently, you know, year over year, how we best meet the need.

With the floors that are currently proposed, we have that flexibility for one year to be like, we've decided the the need for ICE has exceeded what can be met at Veterans, and it's an appropriate time to have a conversation about, you know, if we convert back to ICE use. So that possibility remains. It's not a permit choice that prevents all future use for ice at Founders. So I wanna make sure that's clear. So we we do have that flexibility.

At this time, we're proposing just for the installation, not the annual removal of the flooring, but it remains a possibility for future years. Obviously, we know we're in a different fiscal environment than we have been in past years. So financially, that seems like the best use of the space and our dollars for the access to programming. And I also wanna say to your point about, time at Veterans, I know we're very happy to work with you if you're encountering problems with ice time and scheduling. Obviously, in the busiest season, people are all competing for the the same time slots, but we're happy to work with you, with FMC, around prioritizing ice time.

That has been part of the agreement with FMC as we this past year, prioritizing Summerville residents' ice time over some of the other regional uses of the ice, which obviously we know there's a regional need, and we we hear that. But the focus in city is to make sure that we have the spaces that our city needs, and it's really hard for us to make a choice to meet regional needs residents, over our seniors, over our, you know, tops. So that is sort of what's gone into the decision for founders, but we're very happy to work with you. I'm gonna I'm looking at

Sue because she's a little broker with you. Yeah.

We're looking for Absolutely for ice time, and continue to be partners and evaluate what that looks like. We were very pleased to to know that last year, there was you know, with that first year of prioritization of our Somerville youth and Somerville orgs at veterans, we saw increased ice time there. And we know that veterans is a bigger, better break. It's, like, the nice spot. You wanna be there. So I'm glad to continue to be to be a partner in that way. Yeah. So just wanted to say those things. And, yes, we wanna make sure that we're meeting the needs as sustainably as possible, making sure we have the program staff and that we're using our facilities to the best of our abilities to meet the needs that know that we have limitations and what we can what we can do. Yeah.

May I Things are hard. Thank you. And yes.

May I ask you a question?

Yes. And then really quick, I see that we have rizformin as well on the interwebs. So so yes. The the number of

so you've done some pilot work in the founders. Correct? Yes. What's the number of people that have been served by the founders for non ICE?

For non ICE, because we only had it from the mid to late September to the December, it was about a thousand or so. Total. Total. But, again, we didn't know we had it until September. So we didn't have time to plan, organize, and implement. So it was really the pilot program was just really pushing it together without a whole lot of lead time.

Okay. And what was the demographic that was using

Space?

Well, so we had teens in the afternoon. We had adults in the evening. So we were we didn't have the we didn't have the youth, like, the younger age group, because we didn't we didn't have time to plan for that. Again, it was middle September, so, we had about twelve weeks of operation. So, but, yeah, it was all adults and teens.

So our teen programs and then we had a we had a one day oh, actually, we had two one day events. Our one day event for fall program was 300 people. So that does not include the thousand people that we were serving otherwise. And then we also had a a one day women in days, women in sports day that was, age five through 12, and it was to introduce girls sport or girls sports, hockey I'm sorry. Street hockey, volleyball, pickleball, basketball, soccer, and lacrosse. So and the the and that was a It was

in one day?

That those those two are one days, and that was combined roughly 400 people. That does not include a thousand that we served.

You fit 400 people in that space?

No. It was 100 for the girl day and sport and then 300 for the 300 for the one day event. And that was just a revolving in and out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Drop. Was like, oh my god. Yeah.

It was a drop.

It's all

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

But it was the the so the operations for that, even though we didn't have a lot of time to plan, we did I felt like we did have good news in the space.

And you have the total number of people that went through that on a on the same amount of time for hot paper?

We do. It's less, but I I don't have the that information in front of me right now. But In the metro.

It's Less than a thousand people.

Less than a thousand people per well, yes. But not based on not based on the use that we only have the numbers that we had from when we were operating it.

Okay.

Not when I don't know how to calculate for when FMC was running it because we weren't operating it for

They don't have numbers for that.

I didn't I wasn't able to get numbers for that.

Okay. I mean, because Just bear knowing dropping in and using that space

myself Yeah.

There was a 150 kids in there for, you know, just learn to skate programs Right. On weekend. Right. You know? And so that was every weekend. Right.

I mean, is it so do they drive? So do they not allow learn to skate at at the

No. They have learned they have learned to skate at veterans as well. This was another Okay. Where so that that was learned to skate through, I think, Boston Skating Academy or Boston. Okay. So there were multiple entities doing to skate there. So it wasn't just us educating our community to learn to skate. There were other other entities doing learn to skate as well.

Okay. This sound this sounds like a a nutritious conversation. Oh. And yeah. Nope. That's that's okay. I and really quick, I I have Ruth Foreman. I am not familiar and Aiden Byrne has his his they have their hand up, but I do not know them. And They're

both on

They're both on the board? Okay. It oh, really quick before anything. Pardon me. I I do wanna recognize that counselor Syed is in the room. Thank you very much. She is in gratefully. So well, so they're both on so, mister, they're both on the the board. So I I will, I will be happy to let, you speak briefly, mister mister Edinburgh, and and then, quickly with Foreman, but we will be, moving on. This is the last agenda item we have. So, yes, you have the floor.

Awesome. Okay. Thanks so much, And I'm gonna be brief because I think Ruth is gonna be the best to do this justice. But I just wanna reiterate some of the points from the larger meetings we SYHA has attended over the past couple months and specifically from Lance Davis. I I I think as the the rink stands right now, I I I know what the rec department was saying earlier was that the plans to put down that floor that's modular, but have no plan to pick it up.

One one thing Lance Davis brought up was why what's the actual need to put down that flooring? It seems to a lot of people in our community feel that there has been pickleball hosted over the summer with the way it is right now on that concrete floor, and it's been fine. And we're like, everyone's been, like, very positive about that. It seems like the flooring would I get have a marginal increase in the usage, I guess, for the pickleball or what yoga or whatever their programming is, but completely get rid of the opportunity for us to use it, during the winter. That's the point I wanna make.

I I I've turned my time over to Ruth, because I think she she has a lot more to say on it. But just to reiterate that if for some of the council people who aren't here have been making comments in in our support.

K. And and so your question is, what is the need for the floor at all if, if I understand? And, director? Yeah.

So it's a polished concrete. It's too slick for athletic use. What we've found is that it's it's the the surface is too slick to to continue. We know now that it's too slick, and we can't we can't use it as is based on what we know now.

Okay. I put all all conversations come through the chair. So I'm gonna because we're I I do want to acknowledge with Foreman as well. So I'm going to just let that be addressed. I do feel comfortable that there is that that there is a an openness and a commitment to work alongside those that use the rink, including some really talky.

I do feel encouraged by that. I do wanna quickly let Ruth Vorman speak, and you have the floor as well, and then we will move on. Ruth, you are unmuting.

Thank you, madam chair. I hope you can hear me.

We can hear you.

Okay. Great. Thank you. And thanks to Sue Yerkis for coming to the meeting and for the explanation of the middle school girls hockey programming. I I'm very encouraged by that, and I hope we can, you know, move forward and and help grow that.

In terms of founders, I think I guess I'm I think of us I mean, we're advocating for our own program, but I think we're also advocates for the other people who have used that space in the past and who would be interested in using it in the future, especially a winter ice sheet. I think that, you know, when you're talking about a year round facility, it really should be used year round. And given that it is an ice rink, it would be really nice to be able to use it in the winter. There are a multitude of activities, not just hockey, that can be used in that smaller space. And, actually, there was a comment made that, you know, veterans is bigger, but bigger is not always better.

And we know from our youngest skaters that, you know, putting them on smaller ice can actually be more beneficial to their learning. So I, you know, I want to be cognizant of, you know, the entire community, but I think that we are pigeonholing the ice into hockey only, and it's really a much bigger community, that's used by a wide range of ages. You know? It's it's not just kids who are using the ice. Adults are using the ice very late at night.

And I think there's a misunderstanding that, like, we're not getting the ice time we need. Like, we are getting the ice time we need. It's other people who actually get displaced, and they don't get any ice time. I think Greg had mentioned that, you know, some of the learn to skate programming that used to happen at Founders, they don't have any programming at all in Somerville. So now the only learn to skate programming that happens is through our program programming and maybe through FMC.

So we've actually lost programming for just for skating, not not for hockey, but for ice skating. There are other programs that that can't skate, because the ice is being used by other people. Right? Like, when we talk about the ice sheet, right, like, there's a finite amount of time. Right? And it's being used it's it's it can only be used at, you know, certain times. Right? Like, the kids can't use it when they're in school. Right? And they're not gonna use it at 10:00 at night.

So, it's just it's it's a finite resource. And to lose to lose ice sheets for three months and to have the facility closed, I think, is really detrimental to a wider community. And I'll stop now. Thank you very much.

Thank you. So I I do feel encouraged that there is a commitment to work together and and consult with all ICE users. So I feel I feel okay to send this along. There's a commitment for that. And if there there are future conversations to have and and when there are future conversations to have, we can always pick up the Learn to Skate program in the fall or to discuss again.

So this is a dialogue. I I I do intend to send this forward, but we have a commitment that we're all working together to make sure that we we are that that no one feels left out in the process. And I do feel and and I thank you very much, Director and Leanne and Hutter, for for your commitment to that. So I I do wanna go with that. We can always pick this

up again, and we will.

Director I'm sorry. Counselor Sade, Do you have any thoughts or anything you'd like to add before I move to mark this work complete? These two items were complete? Yeah. Through the chair, I just wanna take a moment to thank everyone for being here tonight and just helping us understand the bigger picture and the different needs.

I apologies for joining the meeting late. We had the meeting in my ward right before I joined. Yeah. And, again, thank you, counselor Estraso, for making sure we hear from everyone. Well, thank you very much. I'm glad glad, you were able to join us, and I hope that you at least had a chance to get a slice of pizza and perhaps a cookie. So with that, I'd like to mark that we're complete, and we ran out of oh, oh, don't wait.

So this as a major request needs to be for recommendation. So you can take a vote on whether or not you want to refer for recommendation rather than mark what's going Okay. Thank you. This is our first

finance item in in equity. So how about that? So with that, I move to for a vote on this. Okay. So just these two items taken up together? Yes. Okay. That is item twenty five dash zero zero seven six and twenty five dash zero four five six. We refer you for a recommendation. We're going to go into a roll call. Counselor Saiyi? Yes. Counselor Mbaugh? Chair Strazza? Yes. Okay. With two votes in favor, that will be your recommendation. Okay. I think the balloons dropped from the ceiling now. Nothing?

No? Okay. Well, I guess we ran out of agenda items. We do have to take up the vote on the minutes, but or do do we just can we do that with the roll call then with the committee? Mhmm. Okay. So with that, I move to I don't know. It's been a long day. So move to close the meeting. Okay. Yeah. So we'll be voting on the minutes as well as adjournment. Yes. Adjournment. We got there. Okay. Councilor Sai. Yes. Councilor Mbaugh. Yes.

They have two votes in favor of the minutes and the German. Those do pass. Thank you very much, and thanks all for coming tonight. And I hope you have a a wonderful, almost summer evening.

Yeah. Almost. It's nice. Nice. We haven't had a morning.

I have

to Oh. That that's what

I've come with.

Yeah. I forgot to

mention that. That's what the least counts are. That's what it looks like on